I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
Short answer. No.
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
Short answer. No.
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
That is a very biased interpretation.
Should we have made the EU swear that they wouldnt change any rules ever, before we left. As we now wish to continue the grace periods for ever, maybe we should have made them swear to not changing the rules for us after we left, from when we were members. We always seem to want the penny and the bun.
As the article says, this has come into effect because NI follows EU customs rules, as per the protocol. This is something you continually ignore. When the EU introduce rules affecting third countries, they obviously affect the UK because we have left. When the UK export to NI, we are effectively exporting to the EU. We were in fact using the UK tariff quota to the EU, for these exports. Where we find a rule that doesnt suit us, we wish to scream like stuck pigs Yet we ignore the thousands of rules that are in our favour. These tariffs apply to all other countries, not just us.
Had we gone for the backstop, this rule wouldnt have applied as the UK would have remained intact. It only applies because of the protocol, which we signed. You surely cant expect the EU not to change any rules ever. Or even just change rules that dont affect us.
Where would we have been if the EU had refused to agree to an Irish Sea border? Shouldnt they be charging us pro rata for NI membership?
It is unlikely to affect the construction industry in NI, as they are more likely to buy from the EU, and avoid the tariff. Something that may apply to many more products in the future.
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
Short answer. No.
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
That is a very biased interpretation.
Should we have made the EU swear that they wouldnt change any rules ever, before we left. As we now wish to continue the grace periods for ever, maybe we should have made them swear to not changing the rules for us after we left, from when we were members. We always seem to want the penny and the bun.
As the article says, this has come into effect because NI follows EU customs rules, as per the protocol. This is something you continually ignore. When the EU introduce rules affecting third countries, they obviously affect the UK because we have left. When the UK export to NI, we are effectively exporting to the EU. We were in fact using the UK tariff quota to the EU, for these exports. Where we find a rule that doesnt suit us, we wish to scream like stuck pigs Yet we ignore the thousands of rules that are in our favour. These tariffs apply to all other countries, not just us.
Had we gone for the backstop, this rule wouldnt have applied as the UK would have remained intact. It only applies because of the protocol, which we signed. You surely cant expect the EU not to change any rules ever. Or even just change rules that dont affect us.
Where would we have been if the EU had refused to agree to an Irish Sea border? Shouldnt they be charging us pro rata for NI membership?
It is unlikely to affect the construction industry in NI, as they are more likely to buy from the EU, and avoid the tariff. Something that may apply to many more products in the future.
The EU is the largest Protectionist organisation in the World.
That is its prerogative. What is not is that we should be expected to pay to be their police force, and to pay them a tariff for goods that are never going to the EU.
Put simply, Northern Ireland was temporarily put into the Customs Union for political expediency. So the rest of the UK could leave the EU. Something which had been completely ignored by both Leavers and Remainers when it mattered.
Now? It is not Northern Ireland that has the best of both worlds. It is the EU. Getting us to pay to police their protectionist borders. Why? We are perfectly willing to allow frictionless trade both sides of the Border. And good luck to the EU trying to prevent that. Because it has always happened at a local level. And always will.
Going forward, the UK should not be paying for all this. There are lots of options:-
1. Northern Ireland reverts to being in the UK for trade purposes. If the EU insists on providing trade barriers, so be it. That is not our problem. That is the EU's. 2. Northern Ireland reverts to being part of all-Ireland. Plenty of support from Sinn Fein etc for all this. Would love to know what the plan is to stop Loyalist paramilitaries torching the place. And where a lot of people are going to live. Because it will just be 1921 in reverse. 3. The whole of the UK joins the Customs Union at 1 level or another. The sensible solution. The 1 I would prefer. But it is not going to happen.
There is no simple solution. With Ireland, there never is. But pretending that everything is fine the way it is currently is just plain wrong.
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
Short answer. No.
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
That is a very biased interpretation.
Should we have made the EU swear that they wouldnt change any rules ever, before we left. As we now wish to continue the grace periods for ever, maybe we should have made them swear to not changing the rules for us after we left, from when we were members. We always seem to want the penny and the bun.
As the article says, this has come into effect because NI follows EU customs rules, as per the protocol. This is something you continually ignore. When the EU introduce rules affecting third countries, they obviously affect the UK because we have left. When the UK export to NI, we are effectively exporting to the EU. We were in fact using the UK tariff quota to the EU, for these exports. Where we find a rule that doesnt suit us, we wish to scream like stuck pigs Yet we ignore the thousands of rules that are in our favour. These tariffs apply to all other countries, not just us.
Had we gone for the backstop, this rule wouldnt have applied as the UK would have remained intact. It only applies because of the protocol, which we signed. You surely cant expect the EU not to change any rules ever. Or even just change rules that dont affect us.
Where would we have been if the EU had refused to agree to an Irish Sea border? Shouldnt they be charging us pro rata for NI membership?
It is unlikely to affect the construction industry in NI, as they are more likely to buy from the EU, and avoid the tariff. Something that may apply to many more products in the future.
The EU is the largest Protectionist organisation in the World.
That we were members of for almost 50 years. We helped write the rules, and very rarely voted against of any of them.
That is its prerogative. What is not is that we should be expected to pay to be their police force, and to pay them a tariff for goods that are never going to the EU.
I believe the EU intended to police the NI side of the border, but we declined their offer. If there were an Irish land border, the EU would police the other side.
Put simply, Northern Ireland was temporarily put into the Customs Union for political expediency. So the rest of the UK could leave the EU. Something which had been completely ignored by both Leavers and Remainers when it mattered.
I dont believe it was ignored. Theresa May came up with the backstop. The ERG swore by technological solutions that didnt exist. Boris thought the protocol was a better solution, and agreed to it. Seemingly without knowing how it would actually work. I am not sure how temporary it was meant to be. It was put in place until Stormont vote against it. If they did, what could replace it? Where would the EU/UK border go? The fact is that many NI companies are benefitting from being part of the EU, completely free of charge. If I owned a construction company in NI, I would purchase all my products from those that could supply the quality required at the cheapest price. Whether those suppliers were in the EU or UK. Irrespective of whether the prices were affected by tariffs or not. We just want to focus on sausage wars, and steel tariffs.
Now? It is not Northern Ireland that has the best of both worlds. It is the EU. Getting us to pay to police their protectionist borders.
Our insistence.
Why? We are perfectly willing to allow frictionless trade both sides of the Border. And good luck to the EU trying to prevent that. Because it has always happened at a local level. And always will.
NI is still in the SM/CU, the rest of the UK isnt.
Going forward, the UK should not be paying for all this. There are lots of options:-
There always were lots of options, but we agreed to the protocol.
1. Northern Ireland reverts to being in the UK for trade purposes. If the EU insists on providing trade barriers, so be it. That is not our problem. That is the EU's. 2. Northern Ireland reverts to being part of all-Ireland. Plenty of support from Sinn Fein etc for all this. Would love to know what the plan is to stop Loyalist paramilitaries torching the place. And where a lot of people are going to live. Because it will just be 1921 in reverse. 3. The whole of the UK joins the Customs Union at 1 level or another. The sensible solution. The 1 I would prefer. But it is not going to happen.
There is no simple solution. With Ireland, there never is. But pretending that everything is fine the way it is currently is just plain wrong.
Change is inevitable. And rather scary.
I have not said everything is fine. I believe that we should honour our agreements. Where this proves difficult, we should honestly negotiate our way out of them. Anyone that maintains Brexit is done is a fool. Perhaps we need a Labour Government to sort it out, but they are not saying very much about it. When we are eventually forced to end the grace periods, there will be more problems rather than less.
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
Short answer. No.
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
That is a very biased interpretation.
Should we have made the EU swear that they wouldnt change any rules ever, before we left. As we now wish to continue the grace periods for ever, maybe we should have made them swear to not changing the rules for us after we left, from when we were members. We always seem to want the penny and the bun.
As the article says, this has come into effect because NI follows EU customs rules, as per the protocol. This is something you continually ignore. When the EU introduce rules affecting third countries, they obviously affect the UK because we have left. When the UK export to NI, we are effectively exporting to the EU. We were in fact using the UK tariff quota to the EU, for these exports. Where we find a rule that doesnt suit us, we wish to scream like stuck pigs Yet we ignore the thousands of rules that are in our favour. These tariffs apply to all other countries, not just us.
Had we gone for the backstop, this rule wouldnt have applied as the UK would have remained intact. It only applies because of the protocol, which we signed. You surely cant expect the EU not to change any rules ever. Or even just change rules that dont affect us.
Where would we have been if the EU had refused to agree to an Irish Sea border? Shouldnt they be charging us pro rata for NI membership?
It is unlikely to affect the construction industry in NI, as they are more likely to buy from the EU, and avoid the tariff. Something that may apply to many more products in the future.
The EU is the largest Protectionist organisation in the World.
That is its prerogative. What is not is that we should be expected to pay to be their police force, and to pay them a tariff for goods that are never going to the EU.
Put simply, Northern Ireland was temporarily put into the Customs Union for political expediency. So the rest of the UK could leave the EU. Something which had been completely ignored by both Leavers and Remainers when it mattered.
Now? It is not Northern Ireland that has the best of both worlds. It is the EU. Getting us to pay to police their protectionist borders. Why? We are perfectly willing to allow frictionless trade both sides of the Border. And good luck to the EU trying to prevent that. Because it has always happened at a local level. And always will.
Going forward, the UK should not be paying for all this. There are lots of options:-
1. Northern Ireland reverts to being in the UK for trade purposes. If the EU insists on providing trade barriers, so be it. That is not our problem. That is the EU's. 2. Northern Ireland reverts to being part of all-Ireland. Plenty of support from Sinn Fein etc for all this. Would love to know what the plan is to stop Loyalist paramilitaries torching the place. And where a lot of people are going to live. Because it will just be 1921 in reverse. 3. The whole of the UK joins the Customs Union at 1 level or another. The sensible solution. The 1 I would prefer. But it is not going to happen.
There is no simple solution. With Ireland, there never is. But pretending that everything is fine the way it is currently is just plain wrong.
Change is inevitable. And rather scary.
Just a reminder. We chose to leave the EU. We chose to put a trade border in the Irish Sea. We chose to leave NI in the SM/CU, and subject to EU rules. We invented, and agreed the protocol.
The EU didnt force us into any of the above. We moan about checks between NI/GB, yet there were checks while we were members.
EU launches fresh legal action over Northern Ireland border rules
In a statement, the commission said its latest actions were required to "secure compliance" with the border arrangements that the UK had agreed to.
It added that in a "spirit of constructive cooperation," it had held off from the legal actions for over a year whilst talks with the UK over changing the protocol were ongoing.
But it added that UK's "unwillingness to engage in meaningful discussion since last February", as well as the bill to scrap parts of the protocol, "go directly against this spirit".
There are a few reasons why the European Commission has decided to launch these four further claims now.
Talks on how to fix problems with the protocol have stalled; UK legislation to override parts of the treaty has cleared the Commons; and Liz Truss, who introduced that bill, is - polls suggest - the current favourite to move into Downing Street.
But it is the passage of the bill, rather than the legal action, that remains the more immediate and key thing to watch.
Sources here tell me that if it becomes law, and the UK does start unilaterally changing parts of the treaty, then Brussels could turn to trade sanctions.
Her rival for the top job, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, has said the protocol poses challenges to the "the stability of the situation" in Northern Ireland.
In late 2021, it was reported he had urged Boris Johnson and his former chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost not to "blow up " talks with the EU about the protocol. At the time the Treasury declined to comment.
Brexit: PM to unveil plans to scrap parts of NI Protocol agreed with EU
Fifty two members of the 90 strong Northern Ireland Assembly, including those from Sinn Féin, the Alliance and the SDLP, have written to the prime minister to say they "reject in the strongest possible terms your government's reckless new protocol legislation". No unionist assembly members signed the letter.
I have just got around to reading the in-depth article signposted in the msn article.
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Isnt this called having your cake and eating it?
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
Short answer. No.
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
That is a very biased interpretation.
Should we have made the EU swear that they wouldnt change any rules ever, before we left. As we now wish to continue the grace periods for ever, maybe we should have made them swear to not changing the rules for us after we left, from when we were members. We always seem to want the penny and the bun.
As the article says, this has come into effect because NI follows EU customs rules, as per the protocol. This is something you continually ignore. When the EU introduce rules affecting third countries, they obviously affect the UK because we have left. When the UK export to NI, we are effectively exporting to the EU. We were in fact using the UK tariff quota to the EU, for these exports. Where we find a rule that doesnt suit us, we wish to scream like stuck pigs Yet we ignore the thousands of rules that are in our favour. These tariffs apply to all other countries, not just us.
Had we gone for the backstop, this rule wouldnt have applied as the UK would have remained intact. It only applies because of the protocol, which we signed. You surely cant expect the EU not to change any rules ever. Or even just change rules that dont affect us.
Where would we have been if the EU had refused to agree to an Irish Sea border? Shouldnt they be charging us pro rata for NI membership?
It is unlikely to affect the construction industry in NI, as they are more likely to buy from the EU, and avoid the tariff. Something that may apply to many more products in the future.
The EU is the largest Protectionist organisation in the World.
That is its prerogative. What is not is that we should be expected to pay to be their police force, and to pay them a tariff for goods that are never going to the EU.
Put simply, Northern Ireland was temporarily put into the Customs Union for political expediency. So the rest of the UK could leave the EU. Something which had been completely ignored by both Leavers and Remainers when it mattered.
Now? It is not Northern Ireland that has the best of both worlds. It is the EU. Getting us to pay to police their protectionist borders. Why? We are perfectly willing to allow frictionless trade both sides of the Border. And good luck to the EU trying to prevent that. Because it has always happened at a local level. And always will.
Going forward, the UK should not be paying for all this. There are lots of options:-
1. Northern Ireland reverts to being in the UK for trade purposes. If the EU insists on providing trade barriers, so be it. That is not our problem. That is the EU's. 2. Northern Ireland reverts to being part of all-Ireland. Plenty of support from Sinn Fein etc for all this. Would love to know what the plan is to stop Loyalist paramilitaries torching the place. And where a lot of people are going to live. Because it will just be 1921 in reverse. 3. The whole of the UK joins the Customs Union at 1 level or another. The sensible solution. The 1 I would prefer. But it is not going to happen.
There is no simple solution. With Ireland, there never is. But pretending that everything is fine the way it is currently is just plain wrong.
Change is inevitable. And rather scary.
Just a reminder. We chose to leave the EU. We chose to put a trade border in the Irish Sea. We chose to leave NI in the SM/CU, and subject to EU rules. We invented, and agreed the protocol.
The EU didnt force us into any of the above. We moan about checks between NI/GB, yet there were checks while we were members.
Reminders work both ways. We did choose to leave the EU. It would not be our choice as to whether to rejoin. We did choose to place a trade border in the Irish Sea. But we could remove that We can choose to take NI out of the Single Market. The protocol was initiated by us, but it is a 2-way street. It is not working. Hence the need for change.
Comments
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62672105
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/eurostar-to-axe-direct-trains-between-london-and-disneyland-paris-due-to-brexit/ar-AA11hV3S?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=630e6c45c41d4a2ab13888919e02a7ff
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/gibraltar-chief-forced-to-deny-secret-talks-on-brexit-deal-with-spain-as-mystery-swirls/ar-AA11h1rY?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=630e6c45c41d4a2ab13888919e02a7ff
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/former-tory-minister-confirms-party-deliberately-misled-people-of-wales-over-eu-funding/ar-AA11jZ5a?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=630f7fed9d9849c68dd8d5a128206252
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/lords-urged-to-pass-northern-ireland-protocol-bill-quickly-to-ease-cost-of-living-crisis/ar-AA11jICu?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=630fcd2084bc47f4a14409e364000e9a
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/festival-brexit-falls-spectacularly-short-082945192.html
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/sinn-fein-attacks-toxic-brexit-as-it-rallies-us-support-for-irish-reunification/ar-AA11oOqK?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=983494a6878543979a04d0b77c7e4aed
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/eu-warns-next-uk-pm-unilateral-action-over-brexit-deal-is-of-great-concern/ar-AA11pea7?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=983494a6878543979a04d0b77c7e4aed
This is madness.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Not the EU. But the steel tariff rules mean that Northern Ireland has to pay a 25% tariff on UK steel imports. And 0% on EU imports. Why?
Because of a unilateral decision by the EU.
So-and I struggle to believe this-a sovereign nation-the UK-has to pay a tariff to ship goods to another part of the UK. Because the EU says so. And we have to pay a tariff to the EU regardless of whether the goods ever cross the border into the EU. While steel via Ireland is automatically cheaper.
So-not only do we have to pay for the privilege of policing the border on behalf of the EU. Purely for the benefit of the EU. We have to pay the EU for steel which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Not if it crosses into the EU.
If anyone genuinely believes that this isn't a clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement, then they live in a different world to me.
Didnt Boris put a trade border in the Irish Sea?
Didnt NI remain in the SM/CU?
Wasnt this done in the name of preserving the GFA, and avoiding a hard border in Ireland?
Didnt this give NI the best of both worlds?
This is the EU having its cake and eating it.
The agreement included a clause which would avoid the need for this tariff. This has been cancelled in June by the EU unilaterally.
Try reading your own articles and you will see what I mean. They have used the situation in Ukraine as an excuse to increase the price of UK steel. In the UK.
Should we have made the EU swear that they wouldnt change any rules ever, before we left.
As we now wish to continue the grace periods for ever, maybe we should have made them swear to not changing the rules for us after we left, from when we were members.
We always seem to want the penny and the bun.
As the article says, this has come into effect because NI follows EU customs rules, as per the protocol.
This is something you continually ignore.
When the EU introduce rules affecting third countries, they obviously affect the UK because we have left.
When the UK export to NI, we are effectively exporting to the EU.
We were in fact using the UK tariff quota to the EU, for these exports.
Where we find a rule that doesnt suit us, we wish to scream like stuck pigs
Yet we ignore the thousands of rules that are in our favour.
These tariffs apply to all other countries, not just us.
Had we gone for the backstop, this rule wouldnt have applied as the UK would have remained intact.
It only applies because of the protocol, which we signed.
You surely cant expect the EU not to change any rules ever.
Or even just change rules that dont affect us.
Where would we have been if the EU had refused to agree to an Irish Sea border?
Shouldnt they be charging us pro rata for NI membership?
It is unlikely to affect the construction industry in NI, as they are more likely to buy from the EU, and avoid the tariff.
Something that may apply to many more products in the future.
That is its prerogative. What is not is that we should be expected to pay to be their police force, and to pay them a tariff for goods that are never going to the EU.
Put simply, Northern Ireland was temporarily put into the Customs Union for political expediency. So the rest of the UK could leave the EU. Something which had been completely ignored by both Leavers and Remainers when it mattered.
Now? It is not Northern Ireland that has the best of both worlds. It is the EU. Getting us to pay to police their protectionist borders. Why? We are perfectly willing to allow frictionless trade both sides of the Border. And good luck to the EU trying to prevent that. Because it has always happened at a local level. And always will.
Going forward, the UK should not be paying for all this. There are lots of options:-
1. Northern Ireland reverts to being in the UK for trade purposes. If the EU insists on providing trade barriers, so be it. That is not our problem. That is the EU's.
2. Northern Ireland reverts to being part of all-Ireland. Plenty of support from Sinn Fein etc for all this. Would love to know what the plan is to stop Loyalist paramilitaries torching the place. And where a lot of people are going to live. Because it will just be 1921 in reverse.
3. The whole of the UK joins the Customs Union at 1 level or another. The sensible solution. The 1 I would prefer. But it is not going to happen.
There is no simple solution. With Ireland, there never is. But pretending that everything is fine the way it is currently is just plain wrong.
Change is inevitable. And rather scary.
I believe that we should honour our agreements.
Where this proves difficult, we should honestly negotiate our way out of them.
Anyone that maintains Brexit is done is a fool.
Perhaps we need a Labour Government to sort it out, but they are not saying very much about it.
When we are eventually forced to end the grace periods, there will be more problems rather than less.
We chose to leave the EU.
We chose to put a trade border in the Irish Sea.
We chose to leave NI in the SM/CU, and subject to EU rules.
We invented, and agreed the protocol.
The EU didnt force us into any of the above.
We moan about checks between NI/GB, yet there were checks while we were members.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62311532
In a statement, the commission said its latest actions were required to "secure compliance" with the border arrangements that the UK had agreed to.
It added that in a "spirit of constructive cooperation," it had held off from the legal actions for over a year whilst talks with the UK over changing the protocol were ongoing.
But it added that UK's "unwillingness to engage in meaningful discussion since last February", as well as the bill to scrap parts of the protocol, "go directly against this spirit".
There are a few reasons why the European Commission has decided to launch these four further claims now.
Talks on how to fix problems with the protocol have stalled; UK legislation to override parts of the treaty has cleared the Commons; and Liz Truss, who introduced that bill, is - polls suggest - the current favourite to move into Downing Street.
But it is the passage of the bill, rather than the legal action, that remains the more immediate and key thing to watch.
Sources here tell me that if it becomes law, and the UK does start unilaterally changing parts of the treaty, then Brussels could turn to trade sanctions.
Her rival for the top job, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, has said the protocol poses challenges to the "the stability of the situation" in Northern Ireland.
In late 2021, it was reported he had urged Boris Johnson and his former chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost not to "blow up " talks with the EU about the protocol. At the time the Treasury declined to comment.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62265810
Fifty two members of the 90 strong Northern Ireland Assembly, including those from Sinn Féin, the Alliance and the SDLP, have written to the prime minister to say they "reject in the strongest possible terms your government's reckless new protocol legislation". No unionist assembly members signed the letter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-61779169
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62757741
We did choose to leave the EU.
It would not be our choice as to whether to rejoin.
We did choose to place a trade border in the Irish Sea. But we could remove that
We can choose to take NI out of the Single Market.
The protocol was initiated by us, but it is a 2-way street. It is not working. Hence the need for change.